Dona Nelson

Joining the Transcendental & the Visceral

Her work has been featured in numerous solo gallery exhibitions in New York City, and as a part of various group exhibitions on the national level. Her paintings are included in the Metropolitan Museum, the Weatherspoon Museum of Fine Art, the M.I.T Collection, and the Guggenheim Museum…just to name a few!

A true interrogator of painting, her work “forces” spectators to look inward. Is it her technique? Her use of various fabrics in intriguing ways? One cannot clearly say…but what is for sure, is that her art is striking.
Looking at Nelson’s work, you’ll notice that she doesn’t have a clear signature style, like most artists do. As a matter of fact, her antipathy toward displaying the latter is rooted in the 1960s, when she herself was an art student. Back then, artists of all kind rebelled against the commonly-followed “rules,” and–as such–strove to interpret art without labeling it.
She uses a plethora of processes, depending on her vision, including washing, scraping, pouring, dripping, and veiling, which all add up to her desire to join the visceral and the transcendental in an abstract–and very new–manner.
Nelson also says that she enjoys painting under pressure, which is evident in her work. Looking at her canvases, one can almost feel the frustration of “trying” to create and paint, followed by the sudden and quick resolution to just “do it,” making her visuals very powerful.